Question

2 Switches and Uplink ports

Asked by: stewart_fischer

Hi,
I have 2 switches which are connected via standard ports with I guess a cross over cable - both switches also have an uplink port. Connectivity works ok althrough network seems slow - may be completely unrelated - I just want to make sure its set up correctly. What is the best practice way of setting up 2 switches, uplinl ports, cross over cables?

Thanks in advance,

Stewart.

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Asked On
2008-12-16 at 04:12:13ID23988207
Topic

Network Switches & Hubs

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
11

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Answers

 

by: amnonnesPosted on 2008-12-16 at 04:23:24ID: 23183005

It depends on the switch and the kind of uplink port. If it's a cheap home switch, then the uplink port is exactly the same as a regular port, except it is crossed, which means that you do not need a cross cable. If it's a business switch, then sometimes the uplink port can operate on higher throughput. Usually this kind of switch also can detect automatically if the connection needed is crossed or not, and that means you don't need to worry about crossed cables.

 

by: stewart_fischerPosted on 2008-12-16 at 04:28:09ID: 23183029

So then I would use a normal cable and go from uplink to standard port?

 

by: kristofbolckmansPosted on 2008-12-16 at 05:44:26ID: 23183476

what type of switches are they? (brand, model, ..)

 

by: amnonnesPosted on 2008-12-16 at 06:06:49ID: 23183620

Yes. Normal cable from uplink to standard will work.

 

by: marinus_nlPosted on 2008-12-16 at 08:03:08ID: 23184838

Hello Stewart,

Cross-over cables are always the wisest choice, but if the switch supports Auto-MDI-X, then straight-through cable will suffice. I have to echo the request to state the manufacturer and model name of the switches. That way it can be determined what the reason is for the Uplink ports. If the switches are rather old then the Uplink port may be accompanied with a MDI/MDI-X button.

The slow speed may be caused by a Duplex-Mismatch. If you test the speed between two hosts that are physically connected to the same switch (and are also in the same subnet range), is the speed also slower than expected? Would you say that the perceived slow speed is only when the traffic has to cross the switch-to-switch link?

Best regards,
Marinus

 

by: DevilWAHPosted on 2008-12-16 at 13:48:27ID: 23188631

OK if you uses the wrong cable then the switch will not connect togather..

IF the switch connects it will run at full speed...

So if dosent matter if u use cross over or stright through. if the ports come up then you are fine and changing cables will not make any diference.

As marinus said check duplex, but don't worry about the cables to much. there may be a "correct" way to do it but I assure you if the switchs connect togather you have the right cable..

 

by: stewart_fischerPosted on 2008-12-16 at 14:54:54ID: 23189215

The model is ASUS GigaX1124 Series

 

by: kristofbolckmansPosted on 2008-12-17 at 00:37:34ID: 23191571

These type of switches have auto negotiation en auto MDI/MDIX, meaning that it will automatically detects what kind of cable you have connected and which duplex is the most optimal.
So you can't really go wrong with linking both of them.

 

by: stewart_fischerPosted on 2008-12-18 at 18:04:09ID: 23209709

Well eeverything works - its just some things seem to be slow. For eg. I have 2 servers plugged into the same Gigabit switch (as well as other PCs) but I am lucky sometime to get 15MB copy rate between them. If I got a seperate Gigabit switch which only had those severs on it an uplinked that switch, would that give a better speed between servers on the same switch?

 

by: amnonnesPosted on 2008-12-18 at 22:34:43ID: 23210531

Basically - yes. If the 2 servers were alone on the switch then you will have better transfer rate between the servers.
This is also what is usually done in higher scale installation - you put the servers on a strong switch, and connect switches that have the clients on them to that switch.

 

by: stewart_fischerPosted on 2008-12-18 at 22:51:26ID: 31527552

Thanks amnonnes - I'll give it a try.

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